English police arrest Scappaticci

Freddie Scappaticci has publicly denied being the IRA agent known as Stakeknife

Allison Morris. Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, January 31, 2018

WEST Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci has been arrested by English detectives investigating the abduction, torture, and murder of dozens of people by the IRA dating back to the 1970s.

The 72-year-old fled the city in 2003 after it was alleged he was the informer known as Stakeknife,” described at one time as the jewel in the crown of British intelligence

services.

The bricklayer, who it is claimed headed the Provisionals’ so-called internal security unit, gave several interviews strongly denying he was a double agent before disappearing.

He has since made brief visits back to Belfast, most recently in April last year when amid a heavy police presence he attended the funeral of his 98-year-old father Daniel.

In May 2016 Bedfordshire Police chief constable Jon Boutcher was appointed to lead Operation Kenova, an investigation into the activities of Stakeknife and those who handled the informer.

The independent team of detectives began investigating after the former director of public prosecutions Barra McGrory referred multiple allegations to the PSNI, which decided to call in an external force.

The Kenova team announced yesterday that they had arrested a man on suspicion of a number of offenses.

It said: “No further details of the place of arrest or where he is being held will be released due to security reasons.”

There were unconfirmed reports of searches at a property in west Belfast yesterday.

The Kenova officers revealed that they have spoken to more than 40 families and processed more than 500,000 pages of information as part of the investigation, generating 1,500 lines of inquiry.

Frank Mulhern, whose 23-year-old son Joseph was abducted, interrogated and shot by the IRA in 1993, welcomed news of the arrest last night and said he was “happy to let the Kenova team do their work”.

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